Bacon Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

When my grandma would have everyone over for a birthday party or a holiday or some other event, it was an entire day of eating. We looked forward to the appetizers almost as much as we looked forward to the dinner and desserts. My gram would put out a whole spread of snacks, and we’d stuff ourselves silly – and that was BEFORE DINNER. Again, I wonder how none of us were 1,000 pounds.

The hands-down family favorite appetizer was (and still is) Bacon-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes. My mom still makes them for parties and they are gobbled up in about five minutes.

Fry your bacon first. You need time to let it drain and cool once it’s cooked.

Once the bacon is fried and cooling, finely chop your onions.

Remove any stems that are on the tomatoes and rinse them. Then cut of a small piece of the BOTTOM of the tomato. This is important – you will be standing the tomatoes, and they won’t roll around if you stand them stem-side down.

Scoop out the insides of the tomatoes. My mom uses a potato peeler, I used a 1/4 teaspoon. Anything that’s small and metal will make this step easy.

Place your scooped tomatoes upside down on paper towels to drain.

Once your bacon is cool, crumble it up. Try to resist eating it.

Mix the onions, bacon, and mayo in a bowl. You can store the filling until you are ready to serve it. My mom will often make the filling the night before a party and store it overnight.

When you’re ready to serve the tomatoes, fill ‘em up!

I want to eat these right now.

Mike taste test!

Mikey likes it!

Like all delicious food…it is not healthy. But you won’t care because BACON MMMMM.

also whilst you’re talking appetisers! my BIL came up with a great base for little snacks.

basically take some bread (white and brown) and roll it flat with a rolling pin. Get a really small round cookie cutter and cut rounds out of the flattened bread.
in a saucepan melt some butter and add some virgin olive oil.
brush the small rounds of bread with the melted butter and oil and then place them in a mini muffin tin. If you put them into the rounds of the muffin tin then when they bake they come out like little round small shallow bowls.
bake for about 10 minutes in a moderately hot oven.
allow to cool, and then you can fill them with LOADS of stuff.
houmous and caramalised onions, mozarella pieces and half a cherry tomato, some cream cheese and smoked salmon, ANYTHING. they are so easy to make and will be a hit.

Lindsey says:

Wish I could think of an appetizer recipe I use off the top of my head but can’t right now. Thought I would share a Rachel Ray cherry tomato trick —– if you have to halve a bunch of them, place them between two lids, like lids off margarine tubs, fridge storage lids, etc, then take the knife and slice between two lids and voila!!! Perfectly halved in a very short time!!!

Sue says:

Some people may not prefer this, Heather, but you mentioned that they weren’t “healthy”‘. Couldn’t you use turkey bacon, and fat free mayo instead? I use these lots of times. Anyway,,,,,.they sound absolutely scrumptious, and with each one being just the right size for popping into your mouth; I would think that you would find yourself eating a ton of them!

leanne says:

Lynda M O says:

We ate these for breakfast this morning (altho most would say brunch) and they were as tasty as some of the omelets we used to sit around thinking about and then serving them to the grateful hungry clientele at Pepe’s Cafe on Caroline St in Key West. Truly the last good reason to go all the way to the End of US 1.

Alexandra :) says:

giselle says:

I know a recipe with these same ingredients, but way faster and easier to make more. Use bacon, mayo, and diced fresh tomato and mix it all up. Eat with crackers as a dip. You can add green onions!! Basically you have the same flavors, but in a dip!

Jo says:

charlotte says:

My family and I eat them almost every week , along with stuffed jalipinos . but believe me they are not hot at all , they tast like green bell pepers .
heres how you make them : get as many jalipinos as you want , cut in hafe , take out seeds ( the hot stuff !) and use gloves . then stuff with cream cheese , rap in bacon and put a tooth pick in the middle . put on a rack that goes in a rosting pan . 400 till the bacon is crisp . and tu-du !